Roslindale Man Pleads Guilty In Connection With Scooter Rider's Death

A Roslindale man who pleaded guilty Tuesday in connection with the death of a 23-year-old scooter rider left the scene of the crash and went on his honeymoon as police were looking for him, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Ratiu was drunk when he was driving a blue Hyundai Santa Fe SUV at a high rate of speed when he collided with Prior. Ratiu continued driving toward Brigham Circle without stopping, prosecutors said.

Boston police were called to the scene to find Prior suffering from fatal injuries. He was rushed to Brigham and Women's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Ratiu was sentenced to serve five years in jail. The Registry of Motor Vehicles will revoke his license for 15 years by statute.

David Prior, the victim?s father, spoke on behalf of the family in a victim impact statement. He described the family?s pain since his son?s death.

"We will never hear from our Andy again," he said, holding back tears.

He described how his son enjoyed helping others. He told the court that when Prior was a teenager, he volunteered at Francis House -- an organization based in Syracuse, where terminally ill people spend the last few weeks of their life.

"He volunteered there for two years. He used to go read to terminally ill people. He used to feed terminally ill people. He used to talk to and hold their hand," David Prior said.

Ratiu made statements indicating that he remembered driving a car and being in an accident, but was blackout drunk and couldn't believe that a valet gave him back his keys.

A search warrant on Ratiu's phone led to the recovery of a text message to his mother in which he acknowledged crashing his mother's SUV, Bradley said.

That SUV was found parked at his mother?s house with major damage to the body and windshield, both airbags deployed and pieces of Prior?s scooter wedged into its front end.